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Moving Around in the Plan Window

Updated July 08, 2021

This article applies to:
  • Terrain 3D
  • Terrain Forestry
  • RoadEng Civil
  • RoadEng Forestry
This Knowledge Base article is an excerpt from one of our tutorial files. The files referenced in the article, as well as the full tutorial document, are available in our Tutorial Installer.  

In this exercise, you will use the Zooming and Panning functions to change the Plan view. You will also select features with the mouse to examine their properties in the Status window. Many of these functions work in other graphics window types.

Note: section for file install folders (<RoadEngCivil> and <Defaults and Layouts>).

  1. Open the Terrain Module.

  2. File | Open <RoadEngCivil>\DTM\Topo with issues.terx

Figure 1: Terrain file Topo with issues.terx

Selecting Features with the Mouse

  1. Right click in the Plan window and make sure that select with mouse is checked in the context menu. Your cursor will look like an arrow .

  2. Click on the red center line feature.

When you click on a feature with the selection cursor , several things happen:

  • It becomes the current feature and is highlighted by changing color to magenta.

  • The point nearest where you clicked becomes the current point and is indicated with a red cross.

  • The status window shows information about the new current point and feature if applicable.

  • The status bar shows the current feature name (lower right corner of application window).

  1. Plan | Next Point and Previous Point and note how the current point moves along the selected feature. <Ctrl-N> and <Ctrl-B> have the same effect.

Note: If you move the current point (<Ctrl-N> and <Ctrl-B>), all windows will automatically scroll to make the new current point visible.

  1. Try clicking and dragging with the mouse to see how window selection works.

  2. Hold the <shift> key and click on a feature. This allows you to add and remove features from a selection set. Features can also be selected by dragging a box.

Zooming and Panning

In the View | Zoom allows you to zoom in, zoom out, zoom to window, end zoom, zoom extents and pan respectively. The function of these tools is mostly self- evident with a little experimentation.

The middle roller mouse button is dedicated to zoom and pan functions. If these functions do not work as described below, it is likely because of mouse software that has been configured to override the default behaviour – check your control panel.

  1. Move your mouse cursor over the Plan window and click and drag with the middle mouse button; even a roller button can be “clicked”. Note that the mouse cursor changes into the Pan hand, and the plan image moves with your mouse.

Note: The dedicated middle mouse Pan function can be much more convenient than scroll bars. You can turn scroll bars off to save space (Right Click | Active Window (Plan) Window Options… | General tab | check Scroll Bars).

  1. Move your mouse cursor to a point of interest then roll the middle mouse button away from you. Note how the image zooms in and how the point of interest stays under the mouse. If you use the Zoom 200% the center of the screen is always in the same location.

  2. Similarly, use the middle roller mouse to zoom out by rolling towards you.

  3. Practice zooming and panning while you look for interesting features of the model. Note that the scale changes (tool bar) every time you zoom in or out. Also note that the text remains the same size (although this is an option) and that the symbol sizes and line thickness remain unchanged (Figure 3‑2).

Figure 2: Before and After Zoom Operation with Scale Un-locked

  1. Set the scale to 1200 in the toolbar (note this is a natural scale, the same as 1" = 100").

Note: The mouse roller will change the scale box in the tool bar once you have selected it. This can be confusing. See step 14 below.

  1. Press the Scale Lock, it appears like it is.

  2. Click in the Plan window to move the mouse focus away from the scale bar, and try a few zoom operations.

Note that this time, the scale does not change but the text, symbols and lines appear magnified or shrunk (Figure 3‑3).

Figure 3: Zoom Out and Zoom In, Respectively, with Scale Locked

  1. When you have finished experimenting with mouse feature selection and moving around, select menu File | New. Do not save changes.

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